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Enforcement Action

Jaclyn Jaeger is an Editor at Compliance Week. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, regulatory enforcement matters, risk management, technology, and more. Jaeger welcomes questions and comments from readers; she can be reached via e-mail at jaclyn.jaeger@complianceweek.com.

A staggering $26 billion in fines has been imposed for non-compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), and sanctions regulations in the last decade, according to new research.

HSBC has decided to reassign the Americas head of its global banking division because of the manager’s poor attitude about the bank’s compliance and audit program, according to an update from its compliance monitor. The report cited that move as one example of HSBC’s improvement on compliance, while still warning about the bank’s technology and culture. More inside.

Financial institutions should prepare for even greater scrutiny on their anti-money laundering efforts. Pending legislation and rulemaking will smooth the way for regulatory probes to use beneficial ownership information, and to expand the use of Suspicious Activity Reports, regulators said this week.

Germany-based Commerzbank and its U.S. branch, Commerz New York, will pay a total of $1.45 billion in penalties to resolve criminal charges for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Bank Secrecy Act. The settlement provides a litany of lessons on the importance of implementing proper anti-money laundering and sanctions controls—and what can happen if you don’t. Details inside.